HP High Jinx
A safe and amusing way to update the ready display on networked HP printers, combined with a little scripting knowledge you could also use these methods to update the printers with useful readouts, messages of the day etc...
Step 1:
Download one or all of the following files and save them to a folder on your desktop, these are the files that contain the Printer Job Language/Printer Command Language (PJL/PCL) commands to update the ready display to something more useful.
- Change display to 'HOW'S MY PRINTING'
- Change display to 'INITIATING MACHINE UPRISING'
- Change display to 'RECEIVING KILL ORDER FROM SKYNET'
- Change display to 'HI, YOU'RE LOOKING GREAT TODAY'
- Change display to 'OH PRESS MY BUTTONS YOU KNOW I LIKE IT!'
- Change display to 'READY'
- Change display to 'READY TO RUMBLE'
- Change display to 'INITIATING SELF DESTRUCT - STAND CLEAR'
- Change display to 'PRINT ME SENSELESS'
- Change display to 'WOT - NO PRINT JOBS?'
Step 2:
Now open a terminal/command prompt (Click START and then type CMD and press Enter.
In the black command prompt window navigate to the folder where you saved the files (if you saved them to your desktop type 'cd %userprofile%\desktop' (without the single quotes) and press enter.
Step 3:
Now type 'copy /b <filename.txt> \\server\printerShareName' and press enter. (Replace <filename.txt> with the name of one of the files you downloaded. and replace \\server\printShareName with the server the printer is on and the share name of the printer.) If done correctly it should reply with '1 File(s) Copied'
To get the server name: Go into Control Panel, then into 'Printers & Faxes', the server name is on the end of the printer name (i.e: 'HP 4250 in Accounts Dept on SVR08'), in this example the server name would be 'SVR08'
To get the printer share name right click on the printer in 'Printers & Faxes', left click on 'properties' and then click on the 'Sharing' tab, it should display the share name of the printer in the white field on this tab.
Step 4:
Now go to the printer and check your handywork.
Creating your own messages
Using one of the files above as your base open the file in the dos based edit program by typing 'edit <filename.txt>' (ensure you are in the folder where you saved the files first) and change the message displayed in the quotes on line 2. Press ALT + F to get into the file menu and than A to 'save as' or S to 'Save'.
I would recommend using the dos based editor as it will preserve the special escape characters at the beginning of lines 1 and 4, other editors may not. To produce the escape character in dos edit press CONTROL + P and then press ESC.
Now go to step 2 above and send your newly modified file to the printer(s).
A couple of my own examples
This one was on a more recent HP printer with three lines on its display.
This one was on an older HP 4000 series printer with two lines on its display.
Disclaimer
All the commands you are using to update the HP printers are standard PJL/PCL commands, however there is always a danger when updating devices that something may go wrong, you are forewarned that we accept no responsibility for any damage or losses caused either directly or indirectly by your use or misuse of any of the information or downloads available from this site.
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